Among the Big Three, Sony seems to have offered the clearest look so far at what we can expect in 2012. In some cases (The Last Guardian, Twisted Metal), that’s because their games got delayed out of 2011, while in others (The Last of Us) they’ve been freshly announced. Regardless, the company has a good split of series revivals that have been quiet for a few years, and original games exploring new territory. And for that, it’s hard not to be excited.

Note that we didn’t list BioShock Infinite in here, despite that being probably our most anticipated game on all systems for 2012, because we covered it in the 360 section and didn’t want to duplicate it — so head over there to see what all the fuss is about. There’ll probably also be a Call of Duty and a Medal of Honor, but we don’t know enough to get excited about those yet. And Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance doesn’t have a release date yet, so…yeah, that’s enough asterisks…

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Square Enix | Square Enix

You remember Final Fantasy XIII, right? That big, gorgeous game that took forever to loosen its lid, preventing many from getting to the good stuff, and wasn’t what many legacy fans wanted despite being kinda good? Well, Square figured they’d take another shot with some of the same characters and a bit of the same combat system, so they stirred up the pot and came up with something quite a bit different from the game this was born out of. New environments, lots of non-linear options, and a time travel system look to make this feel like something a bit different from the Final Fantasy norm, while the cut-scenes and music make it unmistakably Final Fantasy.

The Last Guardian

Sony Computer Entertainment | Team Ico

Our confidence might be slightly shaken by the news that director Fumito Ueda and executive producer Yoshifusa Hayama left Sony (Ueda is finishing his work on the game as a contractor), but despite that and ignoring that we haven’t seen much new from the game in years, we can’t leave The Last Guardian off this list. For some of us, this story of a little boy and his giant dog/griffon-like companion still remains our single most anticipated game of the year.

The Last of Us

Sony Computer Entertainment | Naughty Dog

For the past two years, Naughty Dog has had a secret second development team working on a survival game where an older dude and a younger girl fend off not-zombies in a rundown city. It doesn’t sound like a terribly original premise, but when you look at the character emotion shown in the debut trailer and listen to some of the ambitious claims the developers have made about storytelling in games, it’s hard not to be excited. Plus, it’s a new IP from Naughty Dog, and that’s enough to get our attention in a big way right there.